The popularity of Goshuin stamps and visits to spiritual spots like shrines and temples is not a show of faith, experts say, but instead suggests people feel an affinity for the traditions without a need to be deeply involved. Some compare the stamp collecting to a blessed version of baseball cards.
In Japan, the boundaries between secular and religious are drawn differently than in the world of the Abrahamic religions. For example, both Buddhism and Shintō are practiced by the same people, at different times, with neither being a totalising religious identity like, for example, Christianity or Islam. Meanwhile, it has also been fashionable at times in Japan to have European-style church weddings; in a world where Buddhism and Shintō mix freely, throwing a dash of Christianity into the mix doesn’t seem out of the question.
